<div dir="ltr"><h1 id="blox-asset-title"><span class="">Maryville man could be first Muslim vice presidential candidate</span> </h1><ul id="blox-body-nav"><li><a class="" href="http://www.thedailytimes.com/news/maryville-man-could-be-first-muslim-vice-presidential-candidate/article_5b4d00ee-29c6-5945-ac4c-ba9157db9249.html?mode=story" rel="nofollow">Story</a></li><li><a href="http://www.thedailytimes.com/news/maryville-man-could-be-first-muslim-vice-presidential-candidate/article_5b4d00ee-29c6-5945-ac4c-ba9157db9249.html#user-comment-area" rel="nofollow">Comments</a></li></ul><dl class="" id="story-font-size"><dt> Print </dt><dd id="print-hardcopy"><a href="http://www.thedailytimes.com/news/maryville-man-could-be-first-muslim-vice-presidential-candidate/article_5b4d00ee-29c6-5945-ac4c-ba9157db9249.html?mode=print" rel="nofollow external"> Create a hardcopy of this page </a></dd><dt> Font Size: </dt><dd><a title="Default font size" class="" id="default" href="http://www.thedailytimes.com/content/tncms/live/#" rel="nofollow"> Default font size </a></dd><dd><a title="Larger font size" class="" id="large" href="http://www.thedailytimes.com/content/tncms/live/#" rel="nofollow"> Larger font size </a></dd></dl><div class="" id="blox-story-frame"> <div class=""><div class=""><a class="" rel="nofollow"><div class=""><span style="width:0px;height:0px;overflow:hidden;vertical-align:top"></span></div></a> </div><div class=""><a class="" rel="nofollow"></a> </div><div class=""><a class="" rel="nofollow"><div id="___plusone_0" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;width:50px;height:60px;font-size:1px;vertical-align:baseline;float:none;display:inline-block;background:none"></div></a> </div><div class=""><a class="" rel="nofollow"></a> </div><div class=""><a tabindex="1000" class="" style="display:inline-block" href="http://www.thedailytimes.com/content/tncms/live/#" rel="nofollow"></a><a title="View more services" class="" href="http://www.thedailytimes.com/content/tncms/live/#" target="_blank">20</a><a class=""></a> </div><div class=""></div><div class=""></div></div><div class="" id="blox-story-media"><div class=""><div class="" id="blox-story-photo-container"><div class="" id="instantGallery"><div class="" style="display: none;"><a class="" style="display: none;">Previous</a> <a class="" style="display: none;">Next</a> </div><div class=""><div class=""><a title="Will Coley" href="http://www.thedailytimes.com/news/maryville-man-could-be-first-muslim-vice-presidential-candidate/article_5b4d00ee-29c6-5945-ac4c-ba9157db9249.html?mode=image&photo=0"><img width="300" class="" style="max-width: 340px;" alt="Will Coley" src="http://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/thedailytimes.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/8/f5/8f54d13b-2ea8-5d3a-a46c-e17071435fac/57057ab44a9db.image.jpg?resize=300%2C424" itemprop="image"> </a> <p class="">Mark A. Large | The Daily Times</p><h3>Will Coley</h3><p></p><p>Will Coley</p><p></p><div class=""></div></div> </div> <div class=""></div><span class=""></span></div>
</div></div><div class=""></div><div class=""> </div><div class=""></div><div class=""></div></div><p class=""> Posted: <span title="2016-04-07T00:00:00-04:00" class="">Thursday, April 7, 2016 12:00 am</span> </p><p class=""><span class=""><a class="" href="http://thedailytimes.com/news/maryville-man-could-be-first-muslim-vice-presidential-candidate/article_5b4d00ee-29c6-5945-ac4c-ba9157db9249.html" rel="bookmark nofollow">Maryville man could be first Muslim vice presidential candidate</a></span> <span class=""><span class="">By Joel Davis <a href="mailto:joeld@thedailytimes.com">joeld@thedailytimes.com</a></span></span> <span class="">TheDailyTimes.com</span> | <a class="" id="comment_5b4d00ee-29c6-5945-ac4c-ba9157db9249" href="http://www.thedailytimes.com/news/maryville-man-could-be-first-muslim-vice-presidential-candidate/article_5b4d00ee-29c6-5945-ac4c-ba9157db9249.html#user-comment-area"> 0 comments </a> </p><div class=""><ul><li class=""><span class=""><a href="http://www.thedailytimes.com/users/profile/JoelD"><img class="" alt="JoelD" src="https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/789488110204f331499f9a60deda59c8?s=100&d=mm&r=g"> </a></span> </li><li><p class="">Posted on Apr 7, 2016</p><p class="">by <a href="http://www.thedailytimes.com/users/profile/JoelD"><em>Joel Davis</em> </a> </p></li></ul></div><div class="" id="blox-story-text"><div class="" id="paging_container"><div class=""><span class=""><span class=""><p>A Maryville man could reportedly become the first Muslim candidate for vice president in U.S. history.</p></span> </span> <span class=""><p>Will Coley, whose activism has gained him national attention in libertarian circles, has agreed to be the running mate of Libertarian Party presidential candidate Darryl W. Perry.</p></span> <div class=""><div class="" id="subscription-notice"><a name="subscription-notice" href="http://www.thedailytimes.com/content/tncms/live/#"></a> <h3 class="" id="notice-header"><span style="font-size:small;font-weight:normal">Perry is one of 15 candidates seeking the Libertarian nomination for U.S. president. He and Coley will be making several campaign appearances in the run-up to the party’s nominating convention, which will be held May 26-30 in Orlando, Fla.</span><br><span class=""></span></h3></div></div><div class=""><p>Coley said he never had any political aspirations nor desire to run for office until Perry contacted him last week. “What he represented to me was the ability to put a human face on a lot of the policy positions being discussed today — immigration, domestic policies toward the Muslim community, the effects of political rhetoric on minorities as well as the fact that, in our foreign policy, most of the people we send to deal with foreign countries overseas are just old white guys,” Coley said. “... They don’t have any intimate understanding or knowledge of the cultures in play.”</p></div><div class=""><p>Perry, a libertarian activist and media personality, chose Coley as his running mate because “he has intimate knowledge and insight both of the religion, and the cultures of the countries (the U.S. military) has been actively bombing or occupying,” according to a press release. The campaign also claims that Coley would be the first Muslim candidate for vice president.</p></div><div class=""><p>According to the Perry campaign, Coley “has amassed a considerable following by preaching a message that simultaneously discourages violence while encouraging open-mindedness towards Muslims.”</p></div><div class=""><p>Coley is the national director of Muslims4Liberty, which is described on its website as “an organization primarily of American Muslims, who are committed to advancing the cause of liberty from a principled and Islamic perspective.”</p></div><div class=""><p>A Lenoir City native, Coley said his involvement in activism started the day he attended a Smoky Mountains Tea Party Patriots meeting in 2011. The group had brought in Bill French, a self-taught expert on “political Islam,” to speak about what he saw as the rise of the Muslim religious code, called Sharia law, in Tennessee.</p></div><div class=""><p>“It was seeing a man tell an audience full of people that they should fear their children being in a classroom next to my children,” Coley said. “A division like that hasn’t existed in this country since the 1960s. As Americans, we should do everything in our power to ensure that kind of division doesn’t come back into our country.”</p></div><div class=""><p>Coley has gone on to speak at political events around the country such as the Porcupine Freedom Festival in New Hampshire and the Republican Liberty Caucus National Convention.</p></div><div class=""><p>“That was the first day,” he said. “It was all born here in Maryville. Since then I’ve spoken at some of the biggest conservative and libertarian events in the county.”</p></div><div class=""><p>Describing himself as a “blue-collar guy,” Coley lives in Maryville with his wife and seven children. He said his wife is completing the process to become a U.S. citizen.</p></div><div class=""><p>At one point, the Coleys faced a frightening scenario when a sponsor fell through, and his wife faced deportation. “That is an experience no family in this country should ever go through,” he said. “Putting a human face on that is important in the atmosphere where we’re talking about closing the borders and building walls</p></div></div></div></div></div><div><br></div><div class="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><font size="2"><span style="font-size:10pt"><div><span style="font-size:13.3333px">A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in. </span><br style="font-size:13.3333px"><br style="font-size:13.3333px"><span style="font-size:13.3333px">-Greek proverb</span></div><div><br>
“Enlightenment is man’s emergence from his self-imposed immaturity.
Immaturity is the inability to use one’s understanding without guidance
from another. This immaturity is self- imposed when its cause lies not
in lack of understanding, but in lack of resolve and courage to use it
without guidance from another. Sapere Aude! ‘Have courage to use your
own understand-ing!—that is the motto of enlightenment.<br>
<br>
--Immanuel Kant<br>
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